Oh, Sweet Temptation
by Lyra Nezvanova
Summary: Bella wants to prove her resilience to temptation to convince Edward to change her before the wedding. But Edward thinks she needs to know the meaning of real temptation- all kinds of it. Sweet Bella and Edward fluff. Pre-Breaking Dawn. COMPLETE.
1. Change

I was absolutely frozen

**Title: **_Oh, Sweet Temptation_

**Author: **Lyra Nezvanova

**Genre: **Romance/Humor

**Rating:** T, for sensuality. May go up later, but maybe not.

**Author's Note: **Hello, all. This is Lyra N., and this is my first attempt at a Twilight fanfic. I've been a fan of the Twilight series for quite a while, but I never thought I'd write a Twilight fanfic because I revered the characters Stephenie Meyer gave us too much to try to put them in my own meddling situations and ponder, "What would happen if…?"

But a scene from this fic popped into my head yesterday morning as soon as I awoke, and it amused me enough that I decided to write about it.

This will probably be a very short fanfic. I'm estimating it will only be a two-shot, unless I get a miraculous burst of inspiration…

As usual, I own nothing. Everything belongs to the phenomenal Stephenie Meyer.

**Chapter One**

Change

_I was absolutely frozen. The shrieking cry of locked brakes echoed through my absent-minded stupor, and I just managed a glimpse over my shoulder. The hulking mass of the van was hurling over the black ice, a monstrous, whirling blur. I turned to scream out his name-_

_But he was nowhere to be seen, until…The wind lashed my hair around my face like a myriad of cracking whips. I teetered on the precipice, tempting the hungrily lapping waves below with my life. I shut my eyes from the all-too-real vision of the achingly angelic face before me, begging me not to do this. _

_I whispered a goodbye that I knew he would never hear. Then I jumped-_

_Now he was sitting by my side. His face, though no less beautiful or youthful, had been carved into a Michelangelesque mask of exquisite, heartrending sorrow. His once lustrous golden eyes were now endless pools of obsidian sorrow. And I was drowning in them._

_My shallow breath caught in my throat. I wanted so very badly to reach out to him, to stroke that ashen porcelain visage._

_But my hand was limp and powerless in his gentle but fierce grasp as he leaned forward and pushed back my hair._

_His frigid, tender lips brushed my ear as he whispered, "Bella, please, please…Don't leave me."_

_And then the impossible happened._

_I felt the hot tears of my beloved Edward sear my skin with my last, escaping breath-_

"NO!!"

I ripped free from the warm cocoon of sheets around me as I bolted upright into cold, marble arms.

Startled, Edward caught me in his protective, soothing embrace before I could fly out of my bed and away from the horror of that hideous dream. Instantly, his lips were at my ear, murmuring a low, soothing song of solace as he slowly eased me to lie back down.

His comfortingly cool arms around my torso and the thin, sweat-soaked cotton balled between my trembling hands felt like fragile lifelines. My heart pounded in my ears and nearly drowned out the echo of my scream until his gentle, susurrus voice coaxed it back to a low, ominous thud.

I wrapped my arms around him and crushed my flushed face against his chest, which emanated a glacial chill even through his thin, button-up shirt.

"Edward, Edward…" I mumbled shakily into his flawless skin, "Please change me right now. Change me now. Please, you have to. You just have to."

I felt a hot tear roll languidly down my cheek and fall onto the cool linen beneath between my skin and his. Gently, he grasped my arms and rolled me onto my back, gazing down at me with those infinitely pensive and penetrating golden eyes. Edward looked down at me, lying on his side propped up against one elbow. His chiseled face was unreadable.

"You're crying again," he said finally, "because of me."

"No! Well, yes. I mean no," I stuttered frantically in protest.

He raised an eyebrow. "Yes, you mean "yes"? Or, yes, you mean "no"?" he asked in that infuriatingly serene, logical way of his.

I felt my flushed cheeks smolder with a new throb of blood.

"I mean, yes, I mean "no"," I replied quickly. Perhaps a bit too quickly.

I saw the brilliant glint of his teeth in the moonlight as he quietly chuckled at my tongue-tied speech.

"What I mean is," I protested hurriedly. My now slightly steadier voice poured out semi-coherent words in a babbling stream of thought. "I wasn't crying _because_ of you or because of something you did, but I was crying because, in my dream, you were crying. For me. Because I was dying.

"Which is really stupid, because I'm not going to die if you change me, and I know I'm really accident prone, but even if I did _somehow_ manage to die before then, you really shouldn't cry, because- Well, you can't, and-"

I felt the mattress beneath me suddenly tremble violently, and Edward had to seize me again before I bolted downstairs to save Charlie from the rare but still possible threat of a Forks earthquake.

When he wrapped me in his arms, I felt his body tremble, and I realized that the low, melodious rumble vibrating through my body was his restrained laugh at my nonsensical reasoning. Once my head had sunk back to the pillow, the hint of glittering teeth was a breath-taking flash of a smile. I almost stopped breathing again.

"Silly Bella," he chuckled beneath his breath as he traced the crimson blotch of my blush with one cool, electric finger. "First of all, you aren't going to die any time soon. I think you should know me well enough by now to know that I simply won't allow it to happen.

Teasingly, he tapped my nose gently with a wagging finger. "You've made it quite difficult, granted, with your propensity for constantly attracting mortal peril, but I believe I've taken into account nearly any situation that might threaten your safety before the wedding."

Edward ticked off a list of possible scenarios on his fingers, "Ill-intentioned vampires, vengeful werewolves, careening vans, Mike Newton, flash flooding, you tripping and hitting your head on the pavement, you walking beneath an air-lifted grand piano on your walk down the aisle… "

Still grinning, he gave me a mock solemn glance. "And not necessarily in that order of likeliness. Bella, I am more than prepared to deal with anything that may happen to you, if or when it arises."

Before I could think of another brilliant argument, his fragrant lips brushed mine. The tip of his tongue gently flickered across my parted lips. I froze. My heart was instantly racing again.

I was so thankful that it was still fairly dark in my room, despite the radiantly full moonlight streaming into my room. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure I would have died if he could have seen the new hue of crimson embarrassment my face had created for an entirely different reason.

"But in the dream, I was dying!" I gasped in a low hiss with the breath I drew when our lips parted.

His seraphic smile dimmed slightly as the ghost of a crease furrowed his brow.

"Bella, I would never let anything happen to you, now or ever," he murmured. His radiant eyes met mine with palpable concern as he clasped my hand. "In the dream, were you frightened of dying?"

I shook my head. "No. I wasn't scared at all of dying," I said vehemently. I made myself meet the concentrated power of his gaze, even as I felt my poor defenses melting away beneath its breathtaking intensity. "I was only afraid of leaving you alone, behind."

I emphatically squeezed his hand with all the strength I could muster, and still I knew it would never be enough to let him know.

"The only thing I'm afraid of is going somewhere you can never go, Edward," I whispered, swallowing hard. "I never, ever want that to happen to us. Ever.

"I love you, and I know you would do everything in your power to protect me, but, still, I can't bear living even one more day under the shadow of a possibility that the life we want could be taken away from us in an instant.

A shaky sigh rattled through my chest. "And that's why I need you to change me now. I know we said we'd wait until the wedding, but now, honestly, I don't think it matters if it happens now or a month from now. I know what's going to happen, and I swear I'm ready for it."

Edward's glittering, pallid face was a mere breath's width away from mine now, hovering over me like the most devoted guardian angel. As he leaned over me, I could feel the solid press of his body, and the tantalizingly close chill of his sculpted torso played through my cotton t-shirt. He was setting every nerve in my skin ablaze with a cold, heatless fire, and I knew I had to speak now or never before my mind was gone in his sweet, heady scent.

My voice was barely louder than a whisper as I gazed into the aurelian eyes looking into my soul.

"I need you, Edward. I need you to change me now. Please. I'm begging you to change me."

For a moment, he said nothing. My heart stuttered viciously, and for a terrible moment, I was afraid that I had made him angry by bringing up this long-argued subject. His long lashes cast shadows over the delicate jut of his cheekbones and cloaked his orbs from my tentative glances.

I shivered suddenly as I felt the silken caress of his thumb sliding over my jawbone.

Finally, he met my nervous gaze again. I let out a shuddering gasp in spite of my resolve. The usually mellow gilded color of his eyes had changed, shifted subtly and suddenly into something I had never seen before. Those empathic gilt orbs narrowed and turned emphatically darker, richer. His eyes burned through the darkness between us like two smoldering embers and traced a palpable line from my eyes to my pulsing throat.

"So you're ready now? Edward asked.

I'd never heard his voice this way before. It was still the same melodiously low, baritone voice I knew, but it was imbued with a profound emotion I'd never felt so strongly from him before. Need…Anticipation...

He brushed the tangled strands of hair away from my wide-open eyes as he murmured words into my already flaming skin. "You're ready for the seemingly endless days of unbearable pain?"

I willed myself to stare at the blankness of the ceiling and tried to ignore the way Edward whispered gentle words too low for me to hear, occasionally tracing the hint of a letter with his tongue against my skin. I prayed he would bite me now, or I was afraid my clumsily skipping heart would forget to beat again.

Especially when I felt the infinitely delicate prick of teeth against my exposed neck.

"You managed to bear it," I wheezed. "What's a few days for all eternity?"

"Mmhmm. You're ready to live like an animal with a relentless addiction to-"

His marble lips brushed ever so lightly against the vigorous throb of blood at my throat. A violent shiver wracked my body. It wasn't from the cold.

"Hot."

A soft tongue flickered over my frantically fluttering pulse.

"Fresh."

An eternity's pause. For a frantic, hysterical second, I wanted to thrust my back into a violent arch and pierce my throat against his teeth before he could refuse, before I could die, before it could all be over.

"Blood."

He locked me in the crosshairs of his now blazing orbs. For once in my life, I knew exactly how his prey felt when my beautiful, wild Edward hunted for blood. I knew I was utterly paralyzed.

"Yes," I whispered.

My entire body was shivering in a light sheen of sweat, and I felt his sweet, cool breath whisper the moisture away, only to lick with a painfully languorous hunger at the exposed skin.

"You're ready right now?"

"Yes," I breathed. My lips were trembling, and when I opened my eyes, fiery tears spilled out and seared tracks of desperate, quavering need down my pale face. _Need, want, desire…I need this…_

"Are you absolutely certain you are ready right this very moment, now and forever?"

"Yes!" I hissed vehemently.

Arduous, burning, throbbing blood was hurling around inside my swelling veins and capillaries right now, and it needed to be set free. I needed to give it to him, or I was certain I would combust. I needed him to take it. All of it. All of me.

For a moment, he pulled his tantalizing lips away from my carotid to look once more into my paralyzed eyes. His absolutely solemn, dazzling visage broke into that gleaming, perfectly imperfect, crooked smile I loved so very much. I almost cried from the heartbreaking beauty of it-

Only now I saw exquisitely pointed, glistening teeth in the wan moonlight. He was still smiling when he touched them to my wildly heaving pulse-

Only to instantly purse his lips over them and lay a soft, sucking kiss at the base of my quivering throat.

"Well, I'm not," he murmured seductively, nuzzling his closed lips against my throbbing artery.

I exhaled explosively and immediately gasped again. I did not die. And I did not spontaneously combust either. I could still feel the crook of Edward's stupidly, astoundingly beautiful grin nudging against my inflamed flesh, and I knew he was smiling triumphantly in the dark.

When I regained the ability to fully breathe, I immediately conked him over the head with my pathetically flailing fist. He didn't even budge.

"You- You-!!"

"Ouch! You-terrible-crazy-human-girl," he scolded teasingly and sucking tiny, delicate, absolutely toothless bites from my skin. "Now I'd hate to imagine what you would have done to me, had I actually turned you. I imagine I'd be through a wall right now."

But no words could express my embarrassment or indignation. Or wild hysteria. I giggled frantically, and he immediately withdrew from my neck to press a firm finger against my lips, glancing pointedly at my door to remind me of Charlie, sleeping downstairs.

When I had stifled my insane, insensible laughter and protesting, I clung to his shirt collar and whispered with suppressed hysteria, "Edward, why didn't you do it?"

He pecked the tip of my nose. "Because this is neither the time nor the place," he answered seriously as he ran his careful fingers through my damp hair.

Then he looked at me very solemnly for a moment as he absently let his mind wander through the scenario, tilting his tawny head to one side. "For one thing, there would have been blood everywhere- all over your nice sheets and bedspread. Which would be all right, except for the fact that, once the venom entered your bloodstream, you would indubitably start screaming.

"Which would then waken Charlie, who would come running up the stairs to see his half-murdered daughter in a blood-splattered bed with her vampire boyfriend, who would have to take the poor, transmuting girl and fly out the window, pronto.

"Which would then cause your terrified father to run and gather a posse of torch and pitchfork-wielding residents to come chasing after the unnatural, evil Cullen family. It would be quite a traumatic event for all parties involved, I'm sure, what with the blood and the screaming and the pitch-fork waving.

"Although that last part wouldn't be quite so hard to deal with," Edward remarked thoughtfully as he sank back against the pillow, his nose buried against my throat. He sighed blissfully as he remarked ruefully, "After all, it's not the first time the monsters have been driven away by the pitchfork wielding village people."

I heaved a sigh, but for a different reason.

"So you're just going to leave me a vulnerable human until the wedding night?" I asked resignedly.

A hesitation. "That depends," he said cautiously.

My poor heart jumped again in my chest once more with hope, and I grabbed his hand. "Depends on what?"

He peered into the darkness as though he were examining an exquisite work of art painted on my ceiling. I waited in breath-baited silence as I watched his upturned eyes flicker from side to side, carefully choosing and arranging each word before he spoke.

"It depends on how well you can manage temptation," Edward said at last.

And once again, my overworked heart almost skidded to a halt.

"What does that mean?" I whispered, trying not to betray a quiver in my voice. I turned into his side and buried my head against his chest before he could see my reaction.

"It means," he said slowly, turning over to face me, "I want to see how well you can handle real temptation, Bella. Once I turn you, you will experience wild and compelling temptation and urges like you've never had before. At first, you'll feel completely dominated by them- like a senseless animal."

He held my hands in his own, and I almost felt they had turned as cold as him with heart-skipping nervousness and suppressed anticipation, hoping, wondering what he meant. If he meant what I thought he meant-

"Bella, I love you, and I never want to see you do anything you never want to do," Edward whispered, running his smooth thumbs over my clasped hands. "If I'm going to change you before the wedding, I need to know that you are in control of your impulses, that you're not going to fall prey to temptation."

My throat suddenly felt tight and thick with bittersweet emotion. "Edward," I breathed, tracing his seraphic profile glowing in the pre-dawn light, "I swear that if you change me, I'll do whatever it takes to be in control. I know I can do it."

My living Adonis gave me a small, jagged smile as his hand drifted and settled in the small of my back, suddenly drawing me closer. I blinked, and all rational thought ceased.

He purred into my ear, "I don't know about that, Isabella Swan. So far, I think you have proved yourself of questionable ability to resist temptation."

I was going to retort that I would show Edward Cullen what real temptation was when he suddenly flung the sheet between us up, hoisted my leg over his lithe waist, pulling me entirely on top of him, and drew my head down to meet his parted lips.

I decided I'd argue the specifics of our arrangement at a later time.

So what did you think? I would very much appreciate reviews.

Also, if you are a really bored Twilight fan (like yours truly) who is eagerly anticipating _Breaking Dawn_ and have already watched all of the Twilight trailers and behind-the-scenes interviews, I have a Bella/Edward, _**super fluff-filled **_Twilight music video that I made and posted on Youtube that you could watch in the meanwhile to stay away the boredom…

It is called '"I Surrender"- Bella and Edward', and I posted a link to it in my profile if you would care to watch.

Thank you for reading, and please review!

-Lyra N.


	2. Resistance

Several days had passed since Edward and I had spoke of our new

**Author's Note: **So I have to confess that I lied to you all. I originally told you this fic was only going to be a two-shot. Actually, originally I only wanted it to be a one-shot, as it developed out of, what seemed to me, a really simple, self-contained idea.

But then I started writing. And then while I was writing, I started thinking, "Well, then what if…?" Which led to another, "What if…?" Which led to another paragraph. And then another. And then another…

So here's chapter two of three. I swear that next chapter _will_ be the last chapter. I wanted it to be two chapters, but I didn't think people would appreciate reading a 10,000 word-long chapter…

Anyway, thank you for reading. Please review. Thanks so much.

**Chapter Two**

Resistance

Several days had passed since Edward and I had spoke of our new agreement and test. After that strange and torrid night, he departed under the waning cloak of pre-dawn darkness, giving me a quick peck that shot through my veins like lightning before he vanished out the window. I hadn't spoken a single word about it since then.

In fact, I think he almost believed I had forgotten about it entirely. The way he glanced sideways at me slyly when he thought I wasn't looking. The way he gave me that infuriatingly dazzling grin and pressed my fingers to his sculpted lips when I made that befuddled face I always made when I was trying to think of a semi-coherent argument.

Clearly he was confident that he had erased the dangerously stupid plan from my poor, pathetically lust-addled brain with a series of kisses. I snorted at the very thought. As though I could be led astray from my desire to be with Edward forever by a few kisses.

Hot. Ambrosial. Heart palpitation-inducing. Stupefying. Mind-blowing. Kisses.

And so it all started with spaghetti.

I had just finished cooking a one-person lunch in the Cullens' unbelievably cavernous kitchen. Although the gorgeous expansiveness of the Cullen manor was just beginning to feel like a second home to me, the extravagant lengths they went to just to maintain the façade of a regular, if very well-off, human family never failed to astound me.

I poured the steaming sauce over the pasta and sat down at the granite island countertop as Esme chatted to me about her favorite exotic locales for honeymoons (of which she'd had several).

Meanwhile, Alice was scribbling and flipping through a wedding planning book like a bouquet- and veil-obsessed madwoman, rambling away excitedly about the latest gown design from Dior to a bemused Jasper, who looked as though he was wishing he could use his own ability on himself and drift into a snoring, wedding planning-free stupor.

I used to think it was strange to have a coven of vampires sitting around and watching me, a human, their natural prey, eating to sustain her own life. It was like some bizarre and morbid parody of the circle of life.

But now I sat there at ease with my spaghetti and tried to keep up with Esme as she recounted the pleasantly balmy breeze stealing across the waves of Tuscany.

"Now _that's_ a place to have a honeymoon," Esme sighed dreamily, then added absently, "Even if it means only coming out at night, dear- at least for Edward, anyway."

"It's not as though they'll ever leave their room anyway," Alice chipped in cheerfully.

Instantly I dropped my chin into my palm and tried to cover my crimson blush with a fiddling hand.

"Only when we have to eat, love," a low, musical voice murmured in my ear.

I jumped and twisted around in my chair to throw my arms around Edward's neck. He caught me in a wonderfully chilly embrace, and when he kissed me, I could smell the very faint hint of earthy woodland clinging to his damp hair. His amber eyes were unmistakably gleaming and vibrant with surging vitality. Obviously his hunt with Emmett had been successful.

Ruffling my hair playfully, he pulled out a chair beside me and tried to rescue a very glum looking Jasper from Alice's frenetic, estrogen-fueled wedding planning spree.

"Don't let her get you down, Jasper," he interjected as Alice tried to get Jasper to choose between a periwinkle tie or an azul one. "Our wedding won't be like Rosalie and Emmett's wedding. You can wear whatever you like. In fact, wear that to the wedding."

"Excellent!" Jasper declared, pumping his fist in the air, simultaneously shedding bits of dirt and mud on the tile from his worn, cargo hunting trousers.

"Edward, NO!" Alice cried. She couldn't have given him a more horrified look had he told her that the Volturi were at their door, asking to come in for a cup of tea and a nice chat.

I snorted with laughter and tried to simultaneously defend Jasper's dowdy "wedding" attire and assure Esme that either Istanbul or Aruba would be absolutely lovely honeymoon destinations. Even though I was embarrassed to admit it, I knew Alice was right- it wasn't as though I'd be outside enough to take in the exotic sights.

If it were entirely up to me, once I had Edward completely alone with me for one blissful week, I would never leave the bed.

Fortunately, it was Jasper's turn to rescue me from my own mortification.

"Hey, Bella," he said, his fine brow furrowed thoughtfully as he pointed at my clenched hand, "it's called a fork. You use it to spear food and put it in your mouth. Granted, I might be a bit out of practice. But I'm certain it probably still works the same way."

I stared at the placid blonde vampire for a while and then realized I should have put the fork down a long time ago.

"Oh…I'm finished," I said.

"But, darling, you didn't have a single bite. You need to eat something," Esme protested soothingly. Carefully, she nudged the china plate towards me. "We're certainly not going to finish it, so you may as well."

I gave her a small, apologetic smile.

"Sorry, I guess my eyes were bigger than my appetite. I had a sandwich before I came over anyway," I lied. I hoped I wasn't such a pathetic liar that the deceit would show on my face as clearly as my mortified blush.

A slight frown creased Edward's face, and I shivered as he laid an uncannily smooth hand against my flushed forehead. He slowly tilted my head until I was looking into his concerned, surveying eyes.

"Are you feeling ill?" he asked gently. "I can take you home right now-"

"No," I said, shaking my head. I smiled broadly at him and entwined my fingers around his free hand. "I promise, I'm fine."

He continued to gaze at me beneath narrowed eyelids, with a curious stare that suggested equally concern and suspicion.

"All right. You can stay for now," he conceded. "But you'll have to lie down right now."

Before I could protest again, he had scooped me up off the kitchen stool and into his arms and glided across the floor and up the stairs. Esme and Alice were still eagerly debating which pattern would look better for the reception tablecloths while Jasper seized the opportunity to stealthily slip away.

When we were behind the closed doors of his bedroom, Edward set me down on the bed as though I were made of the most fragile porcelain. As he drew the velvet blanket up to my neck, I noticed uncomfortably that he was still staring at me with that same penetrating, puzzled curiosity. He knelt beside the bed until his pristine, pensive face was level with mine.

"Are you sure you're absolutely all right?" he asked me. His face was so close to mine against the pillow that I could inhale the inhuman sweetness of his silken breath. Even after committing that scent so well that I could, and did, imagine it my dreams, his scent still intoxicated me better than the finest wine.

I forced my sluggish brain to answer.

"Couldn't be better," I replied, shooting him what I hoped was a very convincing, reassuring smile.

In return his lips brushed my forehead, and his usual jagged crescent smile seemed like a tilted question mark. As soon as he turned away and started to rise, I pulled the blanket over my head. It was times like these that I was especially glad Edward could not read my mind. I'm sure if he knew what I was thinking right now, he would find me one of the most foolish creatures alive.

Edward paced towards the vast wall of CDs he had collected over his many years of life. From beneath the velvet darkness of the blanket I could hear him singing to himself, just loud enough for my human ears to detect, as he perused the albums.

Edward knew the words to every song he had ever owned, even the ones he didn't especially care for. I knew this for a fact, because during one of his sunny days of exile, I had quizzed him on a myriad of song lyrics. While we sat on the bed, I picked up one of the many colorful plastic cases, named a song title and artist, and, after a moment of quiet reminiscing, instantly started singing snatches of the lyrics.

I remember how baffled and frustrated I was, valiantly determined to find one song that he did not remember. But after about two hours of hopeless quizzing, I was exhausted and sprawled across the comforter.

"Geez," I sighed, draping an exasperated arm across my eyes. "Edward, is there anything you're possibly not good at?"

He sat silently for a while.

"Well," he conceded finally, "I'm still horrible at dancing. Simply no coordination at all."

I chuckled at that completely unbelievable lie. Edward merely gave me a ridiculously self-depracating smile.

"I suppose that means I just need to practice."

Then he pulled me to my feet and slowly whirled me around the room, softly singing a crooning dance ballad from the thirties. And I knew Edward Cullen was a terrible liar.

The memory made my throat tighten and my cheeks flush in an uncomfortable way.

"Edward," I called out hesitantly, "please, no music today."

In an instant, he was back at my bedside, his intoxicating presence palpably by my side. I was so glad I'd draped the blanket over my head like a shroud; otherwise, he'd see my face and probably think I was dying of a raging, throbbing fever.

"Bella, I'm really starting to think I should take you home, after all," he said, his beautifully cadenced voice starting to rise slightly with anxiety. "I don't want you to feel as though you need to keep me company if you are feeling ill."

I groaned inwardly. I hated myself for doing this to him. But it needed to be done if I wanted to get what I needed. What we needed.

"I'm going to be a vampire, Edward," I sighed resignedly from beneath my protective shroud. "It's all about the tempation, remember?"

I felt the mattress sink ever so slightly as he sat down next to me. For a moment, he said nothing. Then-

"Ah. So that's why you didn't eat anything today," he said thoughtfully. His voice sounded carefully restrained and rueful. "Because you ate a bear that you hunted and killed in preparation for your life as a vampire. Well, good luck with that. I think spaghetti might be far easier prey to catch, though. Not as likely to bite your head off, you see."

I heard his low, quavering chortle, and I knew he was laughing at me again- Silly human Bella.

"But you told me to resist temptation!" I retorted defensively. I found my heart stuttering again, and my tongue wasn't doing much better as I tried to stammer out a logical reply. "And that means _all_ temptation, Edward, from everything I love that I can't have after I change. I need to show you I have self control over everything, every desire I have."

The mirthful chuckle subsided into silence. He exhaled a slow, hissing breath.

"All right. So you are just going to lie here, day and night, in a vampire's bedroom, slowly starving, with a blanket over your head, until I agree to change you, or you starve to death first?" he asked amusedly. "Does that sound about right?"

"Yes, more or less."

"And the blanket?" he inquired, casually poking my covered head.

"I'm a vampire. I can't go out in the sunlight, sometimes for days. It's almost the same, right?" I replied uneasily.

"And the music?" The melodic phrase rose with utterly entertained curiosity.

"Uh…Another temptation," I stammed hesitantly. "It's more about self-control and not doing what I really want to do than the music, actually."

My whole body burned in the tight cocoon of the velvet sheet, and I started to wonder how I ever thought this was a good plan. When I first thought of my plot to thwart temptation, I thought it was brilliant- fighting the pleasure of tempation one tiny baby step at a time. Start with resisting my favorite dish, spaghetti, and work up to eventually resisting the alluring, culinary seduction of human blood. Simple as that.

Now I just felt a lot like a little kid who just got caught playing make believe and had to explain to an adult the silly details of my made up world.

My face burning furiously, I wondered despairingly if Edward would ever change me now, if he would ever want an irrational, sometimes nonsensical girl as his eternal companion when I felt his fantastically cool fingers grasp the top of the sheet and slide it down past my chin.

"Love, this is absolute madness. Whether I change you now or next month, the fact remains that, whether I like it or not, your precious days as a mortal are numbered."

I could hear all too well the profound, distant sorrow in Edward's words, and for a second, I felt a bitter pang of terrible guilt shoot through me, and I hugged my arms to the chest to assuage the pain. I knew I was the cause of that anguish he felt, that vicious struggle taking place in his heart right now, as he fought between wanting to save me from what he perceived from as an eternal damnation and wanting to give me what I so selfishly wanted. To be with him. Forever.

But he shook his head, driving away the thought, and asked me ruefully, "And what sort of a horrible boyfriend would I be, if I let my girlfriend waste her last days of humanity hiding in a house of vampires with a blanket over her head?"

In an instant, Edward's divine countenance was hovering only inches from my own face, and he murmured soothingly, "Silly Bella, I am going to turn you into a vampire, not an ascetic."

Lowering his lips to my ear, his smooth thumb slid affectionately over my cheekbone as he whispered, grinning, "And besides, even vampires and ascetics get to enjoy pleasures of the flesh…Sometimes."

As I gazed into those glittering, mirthful butterscotch-colored orbs, my desperate heart fluttered inside my ribcage like the wings of a frantic bird beating the bars of a cage. I tried to think. I tried to breathe. My numb brain was yelling at me, _Resist temptation, Bella! Resist!_

But my stupefied tongue said nothing when he whipped back the smothering blanket and swiftly scooped me up into his arms. He had thrown open the door, and we were flying down the stairs and across the open expanse of the Cullen living room before I could find the wit to form sensible words.

Ever-observant Esme noticed our swift departure and glanced up from the intense wedding preparations with Alice. She called out after us.

"Edward, where are you going?"

"Don't worry, Esme. I'm taking the human out into the woods to drain her delicious blood and hide her ravished body where no one will ever find it," Edward warned very seriously. He threw them a cheeky grin over his shoulder. "But I promise I'll bring home leftovers, if there are any."

"That's nice, dear," Esme replied absently. "Just remember to bring her home before dinner- hers, not yours."

Alice clicked her tongue in disapproval. "You have to bring Bella back before then, Edward! I have dress designs for her to choose from! And flower arrangements!" Alice yelled after his rapidly retreating back. She brandished a wedding fashion magazine like a rapier. "Weddings don't just plan themselves, you know."

As we sped out to the Volvo parked in the garage, I saw Edward roll his eyes and smirk at some undoubtedly disapproving thought Alice had shot him. It was such a shockingly modern and human expression from him that I would have laughed uproariously, had I not been still frustrated and confused.

"Edward, where are we going?" I sighed as he buckled me into the passenger seat.

He slid in beside me and started the purring engine up before he gave me that infuriatingly mysterious, sly sideways glance.

"Somewhere where we can truly test how temptation resistant you really are."

And so it goes.

I'll really try to have the final chapter up in a timely manner, but as I expect to be fairly busy in the upcoming week, it may take me a bit longer.

In the meanwhile, please review. Reviews are ever so lovely and encouraging when it comes to stoking the creative fires. (nudge nudge)

And if you're particularly bored, InsertShamelessPlugHereplease go watch the Twilight videos I made on my Youtube account, which I have a link to in my profile/endShamelessPlug.

It's something mildly amusing to do while we wait for Breaking Dawn, anyway…Thank you, and please review!

-Lyra N.


	3. The Meaning of Temptation

**Author's Note: **_Dammit. I always do this.  
_

_Ok, ok, so I know I promised you all that the story would be finished this chapter. And I fully intended on doing so, because I had the entire thing mapped out in my head, and I knew where it was going and exactly how it was going to end._

_So I sat down, and I started writing. And then I kept writing. And then I kept writing._

_And everything was fine and dandy, until I looked down at the screen and thought, "Oh, awesome. I'm already halfway through the last chapter- Aww, dammit. It's effin' nine pages long already…"_

_…And since I didn't think anyone would want to read a 10,000 word-long chapter (as I mentioned in the previous chapter), thus I was forced to split the last chapter into two chapters. Again._

_But I swear, with God as my witness, I am going to make the next chapter the _**_very last chapter_**_. Like seriously._

_Just hope that I never decide to write a one-shot, because it'll probably end up being one chapter and 20,000-words long…_

_Again, thank you to everyone who has reviewed before, and please read and review. I hope you enjoy it._

_-Lyra N._

**Chapter Three**

**The Meaning of Temptation**

I didn't bother asking him about where we were going. I knew he wasn't going to answer anyway, and once the softly purring Volvo turned off the highway onto the dirt side road, I didn't have to. I already knew.

Before I could even unbuckle my seat belt, Edward had already killed the engine and was at the passenger door, gallantly opening it and removing the helpless passenger within in a heartbeat.

As he lifted me gingerly into his arms again, I sighed.

"So I guess this means you're not going to let me walk on my own two feet again until after the wedding and my Bella-danger-proofing transformation?"

A flicker of a smile teased at the corner of his mouth as he strode towards the lush, verdant cover of the forest before us. He carried me as lightly and easily as though I were a baby cradled in his arms.

"Well, I do enjoy having you in my arms as much as possible," he admitted cheerfully. After a beat, he added thoughtfully, "Although you are probably safer in my arms than you are standing on your own two feet."

"Hey!"

But before I could formulate a clever retort, we were bounding through the forest. Any words I might have spoken were instantly ripped from my lips by the whistling wind as we flew through past the gnarling claws of branches and pillar-like obstacles of tree trunks.

By now, I was long used to running with Edward. Or so I thought. Although I still automatically squeezed my wind-stung eyes shut, he no longer had to gently pry my white-knuckled grasp from around his torso when we stopped.

Still, the nauseating, visceral whirl of mottled colors, light, and impossibly swift movement made me too dizzy to stand on my own, and Edward caught my arm before I drunkenly stumbled to the ground. Guess some habits die hard.

Even with the hazy, sunlight-filtered world tumbling around me, I didn't need to see straight to know where we were. The lush symphony of fragrance floating around my momentarily dazed head and the honey-colored shafts of sunlight illuminating Edward's face in a dazzling aura were more than enough.

The godly sight was enough to make my knees tremble and buckle again.

And reflexively, his marble arms shot out and caught me again.

As he cautiously set me on my feet again, he gazed down into my wide eyes with solemn curiosity.

"And this is the girl who is going to resist the alluring temptations of vampiric existence," he said, chuckling quietly. His voice flowed through a scale of melodious amusement.

I blinked quickly and squared my shoulders. Hastily I folded my arms across my chest, managing to avoid staring at the sensuous alabaster gleam of his exposed skin running from his chin down to the open 'v' of his partially open shirt collar.

"Yes. Yes, as a matter of fact, I am," I declared boldly, a whole lot more confidant than my jellified brain actually felt.

I forced myself to match his unreadable, golden-eyed stare.

"All right, then," he said at last with a soft sigh.

Inwardly, I heaved a sigh of relief. Finally, Edward was starting to acknowledge that, no matter how tough the temptations of vampire life were, I was tougher, if only because I had enough pig-headed stubbornness to last an eternity- if it meant spending an eternity with him.

He allowed himself another small, serene sigh and rolled his eyes heavenward.

"So I suppose, since you're resisting temptation and all that, you would be fine if I leave now, right?"

My eyes shot open.

"Edward, no!"

But he was gone, vanished into the dark embrace of the forest before I even had time to blink. Only the faint stir of the waving grass in his wake testified to the nearly divine presence that had been standing before me, glittering like a descended angel, only a moment before.

"Edward!" I yelled into the shadow-dappled edge of the forest. "Come back. I didn't mean-"

Somewhere in the distance a bird's low, warbling cry echoed. My throat suddenly closed off, and I fought back the small, burning lump that swelled there now. I blinked furiously as I stood there in the fuzzy sunlight-flooded meadow, utterly and foolishly alone.

_Yeah, great plan, Bella. Resist temptation. Drive Edward away with your craziness. Awesome idea._

Well, he was giving me what he thought I wanted, I guess. I swallowed the hard lump in my throat and tried to think of ways to resist temptation in a meadow. By myself. Until he came back. When he came back.

Yeah, this was so not happening.

"EDWARD! I'm sorr-"

"Two minutes and sixteen seconds," a low, silken voice purred in my ear. "Isabella Swan, you are going to make a _terrible_ vampire, if that is your idea of resisting temptation."

After nearly leaping out of my skin, I spun around and flung my arms around his consolingly solid body. I pressed my face against his wintry chest, reveling in his shiver-inducing, cold realness.

"Holy crow! Don't ever scare me like that again," I breathed shakily. My trembling words were muffled in the smooth fabric of his dark shirt. "I thought I was going to be here alone…"

Another low, rumbling laugh.

"As though I'd ever leave you alone anywhere before our wedding, my amazingly accident-prone one. I'd rather not take any chances," he sighed, slowly running one hand through my hair.

Immediately I froze and leaned away from his all too comfortable embrace. I shook my head furiously.

"No, no, Edward. You were right," I insisted with a shuddering sigh. "You can't be here with me. Not when I'm trying to resist temptation, anyway."

He raised one arched eyebrow. Tilting his head downward to meet my gaze, he just allowed his porcelain lips to flutter against my forehead as he spoke. A wry smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"You can hardly call me a temptation, Bella. Not when you don't even know the meaning of real temptation," he murmured, his quiet laugh a low, quivering dance of cool lips across my rapidly reddening skin.

My heart skipped in time with its rumbling rhythm.

Suddenly, he uttered a resigned exhalation and gently stepped back from our embrace.

"But if you insist on practicing complete withdrawal from all, er, "temptation", I can go away if you like," he offered earnestly, then added, "Although I won't go far from the meadow. I do still need to make sure you don't somehow manage self-annihilation by pollen or something…"

"No!" I blurted out before I could stop myself. "I mean, you shouldn't be here, because it just makes this that much harder, but- but I don't want you to go, either."

A priceless look of startled bemusement creased Edward's serene, alabaster countenance. It was enough to make me snort out loud. He looked like he was torn between complete confusion and perplexed amusement. Finally he folded his arms across his chest.

"So what would you have me do?"

I felt my cheeks flush, and I stammered, "Um…Er…"

My befuddled mind raced clumsily from option to option as the wind suddenly switched direction and whipped his impossibly sweet, heady scent along with it in my frozen direction. I tried to focus on standing upright.

"Sit," I blurted out. "Just- I want you to just, um…Just sit down for a moment."

Impulsively I tugged at his hand as I dropped awkwardly to my knees. I knew he hardly even felt it, but he obligingly sank to the ground anyway. The questioning half-smile Edward gave me stole my breath so quickly that I had to turn away before he changed my mind about this whole crazy plan.

Edward sat with his long, lithe legs crossed beneath him with all the stillness and beauty of marble statue of a Greek god. As I awkwardly folded my clumsy legs beneath me, I was glad I was sitting with my back against his. If I'd been able to see his perfectly placid, statuesque face, I'm sure I would have felt like an oafish tourist lounging against a priceless sculpture.

As my thudding heart slowly calmed, I felt some of my anxiety drift off with the languid flow of time. I rested my damp palms atop my knees, and I counted each heavy beat of my slowing heart. A humid breeze whispered through the long, golden grass. I could hear the chirp of birds singing in the distance. Once I even thought I heard the faint howl of a wolf. I smiled sadly.

I had no idea exactly how much time had passed until Edward spoke at last. Still, he didn't turn or budge a single millimeter while his mellow voice carried on the drifting breeze to my poor human ears.

"Bella, I've lived one hundred and seven years. When I was younger and more-" he hesitated slightly, carefully searching for the right word, "_impulsive_, I once spent six months in Denali, sitting on a cliff ledge in silence, watching a glacier melt into a lake, moving only to hunt."

And then he was there, crouching before me. Edward's glittering amber eyes met mine with a suddenly grave gaze as he spoke.

"But if I sit here for one more minute, this will undoubtedly have been the most boring five minutes of my entire one hundred-and-seven year- long life," he groaned melodramatically.

In one fluid motion, he flipped onto his back, his hands folded behind his neck, his glorious head resting in my lap. I knew that the movement looked so effortless and simple, but I knew how painstakingly slow he had to move in order to accomplish it without accidentally crushing my legs into a broken, bloody pulp.

I quickly swallowed a breath before it could be stolen away from me. I resisted the impulse to softly run my hands through his unruly shock of bronze hair and instead balled my sweaty palms into fists.

"Edward, you're not making this any easier for me," I muttered, squeezing my eyes shut. "You should be teaching me how to resist temptation, not creating more of it."

He was quiet for a moment. I was glad my eyes weren't open to see the veil of sunshine shimmering over his delicate features, the straight profile of his nose, the strong jut of his cheekbones, the pale violet of shadows beneath his eyes. The gentle purse of his cold lips pressed in a pensive, half-smile.

"Hmm…I don't know about that," Edward mused aloud. Chuckling at some unvoiced joke, he paused. "But if you really want to resist temptation, I think I should make it that much harder."

The shift in movement was so sudden and swift that I gasped out loud.

One moment I was sitting upright, staring down at Edward's peaceably closed, languid eyelashes. The next, I was flat on my back, dazedly staring up at the overcast, cloud-strewn sky.

But I barely had time to register the shrouded cerulean sky before I felt a gentle, chilly touch at the small of my back-

And then I was straddling Edward's waist, gazing wide-eyed and open-mouthed into glowing amber eyes that were a heartbeat away from mine.

In the ghost of space between our entwined bodies, I was hoping desperately that my frantic heart hammering through my chest into his spoke for me better than my stupefied brain.

"E-Edward…Edward, I-"

He slid a single icy finger against my quivering lips as he ever so slightly raised his head to breathe two sweet, silken words against my throat.

"Resist, Bella."

They were two words. Two simple words that should have been a command, an admonition. But I was sure that in the entire history of the world, no admonition to abstain had ever sounded so sinfully tantalizing.

A low, keening cry shattered the serenity of the meadow. It was absolutely inhuman- part curse, part growl, part moan.

And then I sprang up and away from the curved contours of Edward's granite body.

Only I did not move nearly as gracefully as he did, so I mostly just ended up tripping backwards over my own scrambling feet and clumsily flopping onto my backside.

A flash of concern and then glee flickered across his face as he leapt lightly into a crouch by my side.

Hastily I pushed myself up into a kneeling position and became suddenly fascinated with clawing the bits of grass and petals out of my hair. I coughed awkwardly.

"Edward, that's- that's not fair," I muttered vehemently under my breath, shaking my head. "It's not fair at all. You know you have a natural advantage."

I drew the disheveled shroud of my hair in front of my eyes so I could pick out the debris- and hopefully disguise the undignified crimson flush of my face.

"A natural advantage?" he echoed bemusedly. I could practically feel his incredulous, crooked smile searing into my skin.

"And I suppose this-" His satin fingers softly brushed my throbbing throat, "-is nothing at all when it comes to real temptation? Or, even moreso-"

His fingers traced a soft, searing path from my pulse to my chin, gently drawing my chin up until I was locked beneath his unwavering focus.

"-This?"

I forced myself to shut my eyes before it was too late. _Resist, Bella! RESIST!!_

"Can we please just go back to sitting and you not looking at me like that?" I gasped out. "Because it's not helping at all with the whole "resisting temptation" thing."

He released my chin and crossed his arms again, sighing wearily.

"Bella, I promise you, on my good name, that I _will_ take your mortality and turn you myself, some day very, very soon. And after that happens, I don't care if you want us to spend all of eternity sitting and staring at each other until the end of the world.

He took my hand in his own inhumanly cold one, and then I knew I could never look away.

"Bella, as long as I know I'm going to be with you for all of eternity, I would sit here and stare at you forever if it made you happy, if I knew we had forever.

"But you don't have forever. Your days of enjoying simple mortal pleasures are numbered and dwindling. And I certainly don't want to be responsible for you missing out on a single second of them."

"But that's why I _need_ to do this _now_," I pled emphatically. "I need to show you, Edward, that I'm ready for it now. I don't care about losing my-" I waved my free hand around vaguely in exasperation "-'_mortal pleasures_'.

"I know I'm strong enough to resist temptation. I want to be with you now, Edward. Forever."

He fell silent, and his smoldering gaze dropped to the ground. Without another word, he let go of my hand and turned away. He dropped to his knees and abruptly rose again, whirling to face me.

I didn't know whether to be relieved or afraid that his ivory visage was completely indecipherable, holding no visible hint of anger or sadness or any perceptible emotion.

He extended one closed hand before me. A single, blossomed dandelion was delicately clenched in his hand, its pale grey, fluffy bloom peeking out between his fingers.

Silently Edward handed it to me, and as I curiously examined it, half of the plant's fuzzy head immediately scattered, blown away by my exhaled breath. I dropped the stalk and glanced up at him, uneasy and confused.

"That's how incredibly delicate you are to me, Bella," Edward said at last. Gone was the playful lightheartedness in his somber voice now. "A single wrong move, one careless gesture, and I could break you as easily as you broke that flower. And it would be so very easy, so very tempting."

He shook his head and smiled. It was a heartbreakingly beautiful expression, simultaneously both sad and peaceful, a temporary calm in the tempest of emotions battling in his soul.

"Resisting that sort of temptation takes years and years of practice, not mere days. It's not just resisting- it's denying, denying that which is most natural to your very being.

Finally, the rueful, glowing embers of his eyes flashed up to meet mine before he spoke slowly.

"Can you do that? Can you deny taking that which is most desirable to you, the thing you need most?"

My breath seized painfully in my throat. I tried to put myself in his place, tried to imagine what it would be like to be him, what it would be like to put yourself through a sadistic process of constant self-denial. Denying virtually all pleasures of the flesh.

I didn't know at all how to reply. So instead I mumbled the first thing that came to mind.

"So in comparison to you, I'm just like a dandelion, huh?" I echoed faintly. "I'm a little weed. Great."

The grim mask of his face almost imperceptibly shifted into a small, jagged smile.

Then he pounced.

He sprang so quickly I didn't realize what had just happened until I was flat on my back again, the impact of my fall halted by gentle, icy arms. But this time I was not gaping at the cloudy sky but Edward's gloriously smoldering eyes above me.

In an instant he was pressed against my body, his arms melding against the delicate curves of my waist as he entwined his hands behind the arch of my back. Even the howling wind couldn't find space to slide between us as his cool lips grazed past my jawbone to my naked throat.

I didn't even breathe for fear of waking from this delirious, wonderful dream.

"Not true," he murmured.

Each word was a kiss softly seared into my skin, and reflexively my heart jumped to meet each one, needing it- needing him –as badly as it needed air. Or blood.

"There has never been a flower in the existence of the world so beautiful or tempting as you, Bella."

I could feel that flashing, crooked grin I loved so much burning against my flesh as his lips parted against my carotid.

And then, as if on cue from some spiteful, damning god, the skies ripped open with a thundering crack, and the heavens poured down on my beautiful temptation and me.

_And so it pours. Get ready for a storm, readers._

_As always, I appreciate reviews. Thanks for reading._

_-Lyra N._


	4. When It Rains

_**Author's Note:**__ So it happened again, kids. I sat down to write this (extraordinarily long) chapter, and I got about a little less than halfway through when I checked the word count._

_And I thought, "Ahh…Screw it. Let 'em read a really, really, really loooooong chapter."_

_I'm sorry each chapter has been approximately the length of a Dostoyevsky novel, but whenever I write, the action plays out in my head like a movie, complete with a soundtrack and close-up shots and editing cuts and everything._

_And when I wrote this chapter, the weather couldn't have been more cooperative. I wrote the majority of this chapter when it was pouring torrents outside my bedroom window as I wrote to my playlist, and I felt like I was completely visually immersed in the story, like I was an unseen bystander watching Bella and Edward in the meadow. _

_But not in a creepy, voyeuristic way…Oo;;_

_I think the most influential song I wrote this chapter to was "Come Here, Boy" by Imogen Heap. If you get a chance to listen to it while reading this chapter, please do. I think it expresses the atmosphere and the tone I wanted to convey particularly well- simultaneously longing, passionate, ethereal, awe-filled, and seductively playful. _

_And I could just hear rain pouring down in my head whenever I listened to it. But that's enough self-indulgent rambling from me… _

_At this time, I'd like to thank the following readers of this fanfic for their dedication and for their encouraging reviews: __**debcripps, Edwards1Princess, TheMarshmaloWizardGhostCook…, Burn 95, Mrs Kurosaki 4eva23, MoltenPanther, Lonewolf 66, dancing jordan, hina2009, twilightlover2theextreme, **__and __**naturallyklutzy93.**_

_Thank you all very much for your reviews. So settle back, and I hope you enjoy this last (extremely long) chapter of "Oh, Sweet Temptation"._

_-Lyra N._

**Chapter Four**

**When It Rains…**

For one breath baited moment, neither of us moved. The sudden hiss of the downpour and my own shallow breath were the only sounds that scored the torrid air between us. For a second, Edward could have frozen into a divine, sheltering statue for all I could tell.

When he looked at me, I smiled, uncertain and trembling. I had no idea what else to do. He exhaled and slid his slender fingers around from my waist to my hands, tracing small, tender circles into my skin.

And then my hopeful dream was shattered as he grasped my hands and rose, pulling me to my feet. This time the motion was slower, more reluctant. But it wasn't slow enough to stop my leaping heart from plummeting into my stomach with a sickening thud.

"And this is our cue to exit stage right, love," Edward sighed with an apologetic smile.

He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and he started to stoop to swing me up into his arms. But I sank to the ground before he could stop me, and he halted in his tracks.

"I can't go anywhere," I yelled over the shrieking wind and the sharp crackle of thudding raindrops. I knew he could hear my voice at a level far softer than the one I was using, but I couldn't. "Resisting temptation, remember?"

Edward gazed down at me, mildly annoyed perplexity darkening his amber eyes.

"You mean the temptation to die of pneumonia?" he asked flatly, incredulity dripping from each word. "Yes. Right."

I sighed wearily, drew my knees up to my chin, and hugged them to my chest. My damp hair was clinging wretchedly to my head, and the mercilessly cold rain had extinguished the flame that had burned in my cheeks from the passion of only moments before.

At this point I felt like a wet stray dog. But now I felt far too defeated and humiliated to give up on my far-fetched plan now. Because I knew I couldn't give into what I wanted most.

Everything in my overtaxed, aching heart screamed at me to listen to him, to let him whisk me off back to the Volvo, back to the warm, dry haven of the Cullen manor where I would shrug into fresh clothes and into Edward's soft, golden bed and into his comfortingly wintry arms, where he would hold me until I fell asleep to the stuttering staccato of the rain outside.

_Yes. Resist temptation. Right._

So instead of giving into what every nerve in my body begged me to do, I heaved another heavy, masochistic sigh.

"Humor me, Edward."

I didn't look up at his face. But I knew that his narrowed eyes were undoubtedly boring down into my lowered head, struggling to understand the deranged reasoning of this unreadable, reckless, absolutely crazy human girl.

Just as I glanced up to gauge his expression, Edward was there, with his drenched arms wrapped around me, crouching over me and shielding me from the nearly horizontally-shrieking rain with his arched body. I stifled a startled gasp.

I heard his surprisingly calm voice from somewhere above my balled up form.

"Well, since there's clearly no point in trying to make you see reason and come home, there's no point in us both getting soaked, is there?" he said cheerily in answer to my startled gasp. "I would take you into the forest to keep dry, but knowing your disaster-prone tendencies, the whole forest would immediately ignite in a blaze of lightning and burn to the ground. Nothing left but ashes and dust."

"Haha. Very funny."

I wanted to roll my eyes at him, but my head was tucked quite snuggly against my knees by his protective chest looming over me. It was not an unpleasant captivity.

Sitting hunkered down almost flat against the ground with Edward's damp, sinuous body arched over mine made me shiver in the sudden, cool dryness. I could just barely spy one side of his upturned face as he hunkered over me.

As I glanced upward at the frozen, dripping Adonis crouched above me, I curiously realized that I had never seen Edward's hair completely wet- or any other part of him, for that matter. Not that I'd ever had an excuse to.

It was such a strange realization to me that I couldn't tear my eyes from him, even as the rain pelted down in dark, shuddering curtains.

Lightning crackled across the sky. The brilliant flash threw his stoic face into sudden relief. Every perfectly shaped angle of his face, every heavy drop clinging to his unblinking eyelashes was illuminated in that one moment.

Entranced, I watched as a single drop rolled down the slightly upturned corner of his mouth, and I realized that, despite his belief in the idiocy of my plan, he enjoyed this- the hiss of rain against his cold skin, the explosion of lightning across the heavens, the liberating feeling of invincibility against the elements.

I trembled beneath him and wondered why my skin burned even as I felt the frigid press of his chest through my wet, clinging clothes.

And then as quickly as it had come, the monstrous storm died away. The violent _thudthudthud_ of hard raindrops ricocheting like bullets off his marble back died away to a low, whispering mist of pattering droplets.

_Damn erratic Forks weather._

Slowly Edward released his grip around me and pulled away slightly, allowing me to raise my head and blink at his curious, amused gaze.

"Well, that was certainly the most…different…experience I've had with resisting temptation," he remarked, casually flicking a lock of sodden hair out of his eyes as he got to his feet.

The simple gesture paralyzed me.

I was stunned by the visual transformation Edward had undergone during the storm. The rain had turned his normally bronze, untidy shock of hair the color of dark, burnished copper. His damp, tousled locks were now slicked flat against the elegant profile of his alabaster skin. A few beads of rainwater pearled on his eyelashes and on his parted lips.

Whereas I knew without a doubt that I looked like a half-drowned rat right now, Edward looked like a model just emerged from a refreshing swim.

Apparently my stunned reaction was not lost on him, because he frowned and asked, "Bella, do you need to go home now? I think we should-"

His soothing voice immediately broke off with a sharp intake of breath. I goggled, mystified, as his suddenly darkened, narrowed eyes darted away frantically, looking everywhere but at me.

"Edward, what's wrong?" I demanded anxiously.

In all our time spent together, I had never seen Edward this inexplicably agitated. He made a vague "Hmm…"-ing noise as he shifted his weight from one foot to another and shoved his hands in his jeans pockets, his amber eyes flickering repeated from the sky to the ground and back again. If I didn't know any better, I would think Edward was actually nervous.

"Ah…Er, Bella…Your shirt-"

I glanced down. The crimson heat immediately flared back to furious life in my face.

My white t-shirt was soaked completely through, clinging to my body, and revealing everything- including the cotton bra peeking out beneath it.

At that moment, I realized that, if vampires could blush, virtuous Edward Cullen would undoubtedly be a very, very deep shade of red right now.

But before I could curl up and die of mortification on the spot, the wind raced past me, and he was gone in an instant.

"I'll be right back," the muffled voice called back to me, fading away into the forest. "Please, don't move, and don't die."

I groaned and resumed my fetal position of humiliation, sitting with my head down on my knees and my legs hugged to my chest, eyes squeezed shut. It wasn't the most comfortable position. My jeans, while not nearly as soaked as any part of Edward had gotten, clung to my body like a gratingly rough, reptilian skin, eagerly waiting to be shed.

I didn't have to worry about the damp, cold discomfort for very long, though, because I opened my eyes, and Edward was looming cautiously over me, with a fresh change of clothing in hand. Slowly, he knelt down and proffered the small bundle to me.

I noticed that he knelt slightly turned away from me, his eyes modestly averted as he handed me the dry clothes.

Still dazed by his sleek, rain-drenched appearance, I took the clothes and blinked curiously.

"You ran all the way back to Charlie's house to get me clothes?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, his flickering gaze still not meeting mine.

"It's not far at all. For me, anyway," he amended humbly.

"But- but you didn't change your clothes," I stuttered, fighting and failing to keep the edge of exasperation out of my voice. Edward and his ridiculously self-denying manner.

Again, his sculpted shoulders rose and fell slightly in an indifferent shrug.

"But I'm not the one who would freeze to death from pneumonia now, am I?" Edward said, a hint of teasing, "I-told-you-so" superiority in his low, velvet voice.

He leapt lightly to his feet, shrugging off another fine mist of raindrops with the motion, and strolled to the edge of the clearing.

"I'll wait until you've changed."

I sighed and stripped my clingy, waterlogged t-shirt over my head and off, trading it for the light blue button-up blouse he had stealthily seized from my closet. Without buttoning it up, I unbuttoned my damp jeans and danced furiously with them as I fought to kick off my shoes and wiggle out of the cloying denim at the same time.

Just as I pulled the crumpled, sodden jeans off, I glanced up in Edward's direction. He stood facing away from me, staring off into the darkness of the forest.

And I immediately froze.

In that moment, the entire world seemed to stop spinning. The only movement in that ethereal scene was the pearly mist tumbling down softly from the heavens and the whispering wind ruffling through Edward's wet, bronze hair. Shimmering droplets dripped from his copper locks onto the gentle slope of his finely chiseled arms, his hands relaxed in his pockets.

But what drew my paralyzed gaze most was the tantalizing hint of something I'd never seen before, something that had been forbidden to me. Until now.

His sodden, black shirt clung to his lithe body sensuously, sinfully suggesting in exquisite detail every ripple of his muscle, the gentle arch to his back, the delicate jut of his hipbones, where his jeans embraced his sinuous waist.

And I realized that the only thing separating my nakedness from Edward's body was a very thin layer of wet silk and denim.

My mouth was dry, and my hands were trembling. The silent world was whirling in my head, filling my hot brain with a blinding flurry of electric thoughts, desires, and incoherent words.

A part of me, the self-depriving, temptation-resisting, saintly part of me screamed at me to look away, that if he were in my shoes, my chivalrous angel would never sneak furtive glances at my oblivious, semi-nude state.

Another part of me, the desperate, hormone-driven, hopelessly human part of me, whispered to me that you were only human once. For me, anyway.

_Even vampires and ascetics get to enjoy pleasures of the flesh…Sometimes…._

I stood bolt upright. Even with my innate clumsiness, in that moment, I felt that for once, I almost moved with vampiric speed. My heart was pounding a frantic drum roll in my ears. I knew I had to do this now, before my lustful nerves failed me.

Slowly, I walked towards him, leaving both my dry and wet jeans crumpled on the ground. The breeze whistled past me, caressing my bare thighs and fluttering my open shirt around my chilled skin like doves' wings. The cotton blouse hung loosely on my shoulders, leaving me utterly exposed to the world.

I made no movement to draw it closed when I stood only a few feet away from his turned, broad back.

"Edward…" I called softly.

He turned to face me with a small, wry smile tugging at his smooth lips-

And froze. Edward's glowing eyes grew wide with a terrifying emotion I rarely saw in him- fear. He inhaled with a sound like a hiss. When he spoke, his quavering, melodious voice was almost a moan.

"Bella…What are you doing?"

I swallowed hard. I forced my shaking legs to take another tentative step forward. Edward did not move or flinch but stared at me, transfixed, with an expression of such torrid complexity that I did not dare to guess what he was thinking right now.

Instead, I only focused on putting one trembling foot in front of another, again and again, in the slowest and most vulnerable march of my entire life until I was standing before him, close enough to touch him.

Hesitantly I reached out my hand and hoped it was not trembling too visibly and laid it against his un-beating heart. I glanced up warily into his searing, aurelian eyes. Edward returned my gaze from beneath his darkened brow, a barely controlled storm of emotion surging ardently behind his passionately fierce gaze.

"I was just thinking," I whispered, my timid voice cracking with the dryness of my mouth, "about what you said about my missing out on mortal pleasures before I change. And I know we've talked about this before, and I know that we both resist all the time, Edward, and- and-"

"And?"

His seraphic visage was completely indecipherable.

I swallowed hard again. This time my voice was hardly louder than the sibilant dance of falling raindrops around us.

"I was just thinking that I've never been kissed in the rain before."

Edward said nothing. Abruptly he glanced away from me, his eyes burning through the sultry air between us like glowering coals. I felt my heart stutter and freefall to my feet-

And then I was crushed up against a tree, Edward's arms cradling my body from the fierce impact, his hands running through my sodden hair, his lips fastened desperately against mine. One icy hand snaked down to my thigh and hitched my leg up against his hip, cleaving us even closer together.

Reflexively I threw my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck, drawing his glorious, wet face closer to mine. Warm, wet drops spilled from the sky onto his gleaming face and into my hot, desperate mouth as I kissed him again and again…

He moved with an intensity and passion I had never felt from him before. His thrillingly cold hands were everywhere at once it seemed- in my hair, on my face, at my back, at my waist. His caress set every nerve in my frigid skin ablaze with a cold and furious fire, and they sang for him and begged for him-

A thunderous explosion rocked the meadow, and he flung me to the ground, his arms forming a protective cage around me, still locking me fiercely to his body as he pressed against me.

I gasped with surprise. The impact felt as soft as if he'd thrown me on a downy mattress.

But there was an urgency behind Edward's movements now, a breathtaking edge of recklessness I'd never felt before. His careful control was starting to slip.

And it thrilled me to no end.

Subconsciously, a tiny sliver of my brain that still cared about self-preservation and morals told me I should be afraid by now.

Edward thought so too, apparently, because in the next heartbeat, he had flipped me on top of him, my legs still entwined around his waist, my arms braced against his heaving chest.

His anxious eyes blazed like brilliant coals into my soul. Their color was unlike anything I'd ever seen before, dark and rich and fiery, like molten gold in a furnace. I could see the tentative desperation in his eyes, the ferocious desire just barely tempered by the fearful caution.

"Bella," he whispered, closing his eyes slowly, "I could kill you."

"But you won't," I whispered fervently, running my trembling fingers along his hard-set jaw line.

Edward's eyes flashed open again and stole my breath away.

"Are you afraid?" he breathed.

I shook my head gently.

"Never."

And before he could stop me, before I was even entirely aware of what I was doing, my nervous fingers had slipped down from his porcelain face to his chest, where they clumsily started unbuttoning his shirt.

Edward flinched and then stayed utterly still. From the corner of my eye, I could see him watching me with a strange and powerful fascination, as though every clumsy movement of my fumbling fingers was absolutely enthralling.

The wet silk slid awkwardly through my fingers, but I finally managed to undo each one. As the last one slipped from my hands, he flung it off in a blindingly quick motion. My heart nearly stopped.

I had seen Edward in the sunlight many times before. Edward in the sunlight was devastatingly, heartbreakingly beautiful.

Edward's naked skin in the sunlight, drenched in the wrath of a storm, was positively mind blowing.

The rain pearled on his marble chest, catching the pale glimmer of sunlight sneaking through the clouds and shattering the light into a thousand brilliant rainbows. The glittering droplets settled in each shallow crease between his rippling muscles and magnified his skin's natural sparkling luminescence, dappling his sculpted body in a dramatic play of light and shadow.

A dim, golden shaft of light danced across his bare chest, illuminating his torso in a soft aura of prismatic color.

I realized that doing this with Edward could very well kill me. But as I gazed at him in that glorious moment, my reverent eyes brimming with tears, I knew it wouldn't matter.

Because I knew that I had already seen heaven.

Gently Edward kissed my cheek as a single, hot teardrop slid down my burning face.

"Bella, we don't have to do this," he whispered soothingly. "What are you thinking right now?'

I didn't answer him. There were no words to describe a feeling such as this.

And so I showed him instead.

I smashed my mouth against his, and I felt his cool breath escape in a low, trembling moan. My soft, searching lips melded instantly to his, as did my aching body. My bare thighs clung to his hips as I crushed my body against his, trying desperately to fuse the divine iciness of his body into the raging fire of mine.

I devoured his mouth with a ravenous passion now, surfacing with a sigh only when his murmuring silken lips slid from my mouth down my throbbing neck.

Words tumbled endlessly from his lips now in a fervent, velvet purr. His silken voice burned words of indescribable beauty into my throat, and I twisted my fingers into his fiery hair in ecstatic response.

Suddenly Edward gasped and arched his back against the ground. I felt his hips thrust against me through the wet, thin cotton of my underwear.

I moaned his name in a high, keening cry that echoed in the forest clearing.

And then the gray world spun around me in a dizzying blur as he pinned me against the ground. My head was spinning in a frenetic, drifting world of light and rain and fire, the elements racing through me like white lightning.

He braced his elbows against the ground, arching his weight into the muddy dirt to stop from crushing my breath away with his incredible strength.

I shivered and clung to him, crushing the throbbing ache of my body's desire into the wonderful hardness of his body through denim and cotton.

Edward's frigid body trembled against me like a shuddering bridge about to collapse, and I could feel the exquisite torture rippling through his spine as he straddled me and fought every instinct to cling to that tenuous control.

"Bella…Bella…" he breathed softly. My name had never sounded so undeservingly sacred. "Bella, I can't do this. I feel myself slipping already-"

"Then let go," I whispered breathlessly.

And I crushed my hungry mouth against his throat. A shudder tore through his entire body with a broken cry as he thrust against me and caught my wrist.

In a blinding instant, he pinned my outstretched arm above my head, exposing my throat.

Edward's fantastically cold lips were at my neck, caressing and breathing a reverent stream of glorious song into my body. He was no longer kissing me but worshipping my wet flesh, blessing every burning inch of it with his sweet, fragrant breath, his lush, roving lips, his silken tongue. He traced the soft curve of my neck with his delicate lips, leaving an invisible trail of fire in his mouth's sensuous assault.

It was far more than any mortal deserved. My quivering body was bursting with the immense and unspeakable love I felt for him now, which spilled out in burning tears down my glistening cheeks. I hoped the poor facilities of my human body could give him even a glimpse of the immeasurable love and fierce need I felt for him now.

Sighing his name again through a kiss, I slowly slid my fingers down between our heaving bodies, tracing every hard curve of his lithe muscle. Snaking my hands around his waist, I wracked my fingers down his naked back and thrilled as he responded eagerly to my touch, fusing himself even tighter to my rolling body.

It was like running my fingers over the smoothest expanse of rippling marble, and I stroked his cold, rain-slicked skin again and again.

His back was drenched with the fresh shrouds of rain drawn across the warring, resonant heavens. But I barely noticed it as we tumbled over and over, the world racing past me in a kaleidoscopic blur.

My tumultuous passion erupted from me in a strangled cry that was part moan and part laughter as Edward rolled me over again and again in the meadow. As a human, I could never physically dominate him, and he knew it, too.

So he drew me down on top of him, melding me to his waist, before abruptly rolling on top of me, diving into each kiss with a newfound ardor each time. I laughed freely as we tumbled, and I sucked softly at his darting tongue through his jagged smile. Even in the tormenting grip of passion, Edward was still trying to be the consummate gentleman.

The only sounds I heard in our blissful, ardent struggle were the almost inaudible, trembling song of Edward's velvet voice in my ear, the surging sea of our rising and falling sighs, and the sensuous whisper of our bodies arching and writhing together in a silent dance.

I almost didn't hear him when he fastened his mouth to my collarbone and pinned me down on a bed of crushed wildflowers and cried out sharply-

Edward uttered a muffled groan, and his arms flew away from my wrists. Instinctively I tightened my legs' vice-like grip around his waist to stop him from darting away like a dream. Not without dragging me with him, anyway.

"Edward, what's-"

And then I saw the tiny, welling bloom of blood blossoming on my outstretched right hand. I blinked stupidly and wondered how it could have happened, and then remembered a second's flash of dull pain in the tumult of pleasure, when he rolled me over abruptly, and I flung out my hand against the ground- a rock, maybe.

Edward's fiery eyes had never been more desperate or animal. Or more beautiful. His gasping, parted lips flashed gleaming teeth, and he tore his horrified, transfixed gaze away from my pulsing hand.

The simultaneous burn of desire and shame in his smoldering amber eyes made my pounding heart ache. I couldn't let him hurt this way.

So I forced him to look at me, turning his grim, angelic face with my uninjured hand until he was gazing into my exposed soul. Then I slowly placed my bleeding hand in the breath's width between our intertwined bodies, resting it gently against the hollow at the base of my throat.

I felt Edward shudder with a frozen fear.

"Bella, you would turn me into a monster," he whispered brokenly. His glowing, wide, pleading eyes never left mine.

"I trust you, Edward," I murmured softly. My woozy head was spinning with the coppery sting of blood, but I didn't let it stop me. "You resist better than anyone I know. You deny yourself so much. But I want you to take it, Edward. I'm giving it to you.

"Take it. Take me."

Then I raised my wounded hand to my mouth, sucking the insignificant crimson blossom away with a consoling kiss. I felt the hot, bitter tang of blood trembling on my lips.

And before he could utter a single word, I crushed my blood-laden lips to his.

For a breathless second, our tangled bodies were absolutely still. I heard his torn exhalation. I felt the burning, heavy crimson drops roll lazily off my parted lips into his. I felt the whisper of his tongue sliding ever so slowly over my bloody lips and then softly brush mine-

"Bella," Edward moaned softly, "I love you."

With a sharp rip, he tore my blouse from my shoulders with his teeth.

Then his teeth were at my throat.

I gasped and braced for the vicious agony, awaited the bubble and surge of my boiling blood surfacing for him.

But the only thing I felt was his wonderfully devouring mouth darting from my neck to my lips and back again, and I whispered, "I love you, Edward. I love you, I love you, I love you…" over and over until it became a fervid prayer, a desperate entreaty as his roving lips slid lower and lower down my neck.

My back arched into his, and I fastened my thighs even tighter around his waist as he groaned and leaned against me. The sweet fragrance of his writhing body and his quickening breath entranced my hot, dizzy brain as the rain poured down in earnest again.

But nothing could tear us apart now. The sky could flood the world, and I knew that Edward's fierce, marble lips would be still be there, kissing me, breathing sweet life back into my quivering body with each desperate kiss.

His breath came shallow and quick as his slender, cool hands swiftly explored my body freely now. I sighed and undulated reflexively as his velvet touch ran the length of my arched spine, caressed my swaying curves, softly traced the hard shape of my hipbones.

I felt as though Edward's tender hands were melding me now, shaping my torrid, trembling form into something strange and intricate I could not comprehend, because it was still so new to me.

All I knew was that my entire body was aflame with an undeniable hunger for him entirely, beautiful soul and body and all. And I knew that the raging fire could only be sated by the searing ice of his hands, stroking every part of me.

Every part, except for the part that begged for it most.

"Edward…" I moaned.

As he sucked me down into another drowning kiss, my shaking hands darted from his rippling back down to his belt, fumbling awkwardly in the narrow space between our heaving bodies. I didn't dare open my eyes to see what I was doing, because I knew how quickly it could all be over.

Never withdrawing his sweet, fierce mouth from mine, his hand abruptly caught mine. His glowing, amber eyes flashed open to meet my paralyzed gaze.

"Wait…" he murmured softly into my lips.

Edward kissed the back of my hand gently, almost reverently, inhaling my scent with a shivering sigh. Without releasing my hand, his lips began to graze a very deliberate path past my throat and down the soft curve of my chest.

It took every ounce of restraint in my body not to cry out in wild abandon when his cold lips brushed the shallow "v" between my breasts.

A violent spasm of blinding pleasure rippled through me, chasing the descent of his hard, sucking mouth as he sank down between my thighs until he came to a sudden halt at my waist.

Edward's hands gently cradled my rocking hips as he lingered there for several long, blissful moments. Lightly stroking my hipbones with his thumbs, he kissed the bare, prickling flesh beneath my navel, nestling his nose into that delicate hollow.

In this moment, his lips devoured me with a barely restrained hunger, his tongue darting out to trace delicate, venomous patterns around my navel. My gasping breath hissed between my gritted teeth desperately as each beautiful, tormenting second ticked by, and his sinuous tongue traced a trail down lower and lower until his teeth pricked softly at the waistband of my panties.

I uttered his name in a low, hissing cry, like a passionate plea to some merciful god.

And then his divine, alabaster face was a heartbeat away from mine again, his sweet mouth swallowing my scream in a tender, crooked smile of a kiss, as he murmured,

"I win."

I froze, my fingers still intertwined in his damp copper locks. The weight of sudden realization plummeted into my stomach like a grand piano dropped from the sky.

If Edward hadn't been distracting my mouth so eagerly, I would have been uttering some very choice words of a different type of passion.

When he finally pulled away, grinning, to let me gasp for air, I gave him my best attempt at an indignant, furious glare.

"Edward Cullen, you- you- you are a horrible _tease_."

In my valiant attempt to sound enraged, I tried to hide my breathlessness as best as I could.

By the impertinent, dazzling grin he threw me in reply, I knew I failed horribly.

"Now, that's not true at all, love," Edward crooned soothingly.

His gleaming eyes were a light butterscotch color now as he gazed down at me, glittering with unrestrained mirth. He glanced heavenward with a look of complete innocence.

"To be completely fair, I gave you exactly what you asked for- a kiss in the rain," he said piously, his lips fluttering teasingly over my pathetic attempt at a scowl. He added modestly, "Plus several more. I think that's more than a fair deal, don't you?"

I rolled my eyes and concentrated on inhaling and exhaling regularly after our lips slid apart. He nestled his head into the crook of my shoulder with a crooning sigh of contentment.

"Whatever. That's not fair at all, Edward, and you know it," I sighed heavily. My fingers impulsively stroked his tousled hair before I could stop myself. "You know that's not just what I meant."

"Oh, really? Then what _did_ you mean?"

I felt his low, melodious chuckle rumble into my skipping heart, and I felt my hot blood come running back into my traitorous face.

"You know- I- You- We-"

"You know- I- You- We-" he echoed my awkwardness amusedly. Edward laughed again before kissing my collarbone.

"Just be grateful that we stopped when we did," Edward sighed quietly. "If I'd gone on, I don't think there would have been enough of you left over for Carlisle to put back together for the wedding."

My fingers stopped, and I blinked stupidly.

He carefully nudged my neck with his nose.

"Take a look at what we- what _I_ –did to our meadow."

I raised my head from the ground, noticed the world around Edward and me for the first time since the storm started, and stifled a gasp.

Large chunks of grass and flowers were gouged from the earth as though a bulldozer had ripped them out. A messy, muddy ditch scored the field, splitting the meadow in half like a haphazardly dug trench. Our tangled bodies rested in the far end of it.

The massive oak that Edward had crushed me up against at the beginning of our passionate frenzy had split entirely in half, and its massive top lolled against the ravished earth like a gruesomely severed head.

Despite myself, I giggled nervously. I felt heavy clumps of mud and debris meshed in my hair. As I glanced down at my body and at his, I saw that we were both covered from head to toe in a solid layer of muck and grime- although Edward definitely made mud look better than any human being ever did.

"So remind me why didn't we go on, again?" I sighed.

It was worth it just for his priceless expression of shock and then weary exasperation. Groaning, Edward slid an arm around me and cradled me against his chest.

"Isabella Swan, you are going to make a _horrible_ vampire, if that's your best attempt at resisting temptation," he declared in mock horror as I scowled and nestled my head against his chiseled shoulder. He shook his head despairingly.

"I can just see the newspaper headlines now- 'Entire Population of Forks, Washington, Slaughtered in One Night By Mysterious Monster'."

I gasped in indignant shock as I jabbed his shoulder. I might as well have been punching Mount Rushmore, for all that he flinched.

"And that was a nice little trick that you pulled back there," he said, snorting ruefully as he nodded towards my slightly wounded hand. "I almost killed you about- oh, only half a dozen times or so."

"But the point is that you didn't. So we _could_ have gone on if we wanted to," I argued vehemently. I could not keep the impetuous tone of victory out of my smug, beaming voice, even as he intertwined my fingers with his.

"Yes, well- I guess a century or so of resisting temptation is useful every now and then. Especially when it comes to resisting the vicious wiles of a relentless, hormone-driven, nearly irresistible seductress," Edward replied, feigning exhausted solemnity as he kissed my forehead and caressed my filthy, muddy hair.

He breathed into my skin, "Enjoying the bouquet while resisting the wine. You should try it some time, you know."

I fought to keep my heart from rocketing out of my ribs as I pulled a grimace.

"Yeah, well…I think I could use a drink right about now," I grumbled as his cool lips danced sensuously across mine.

"Well, at least we know one thing now," he purred softly as he nibbled at my lower lip.

My shuddering breath choked out one word.

"What?"

"We are going to have one hell of a wedding night, Bella Swan."

If Edward's intoxicating breath hadn't exhaled life into my body, my agitated heart would have stopped right then because I definitely forgot how to breathe.

Gasping, I broke the kiss and abruptly pushed him away. He withdrew with a bemused, startled glance, staring into my wide eyes with an unvoiced concern.

"I was just thinking," I sputtered breathlessly as Edward waited eagerly and smiled sardonically, "well, if you're so good at resisting temptation, and we've already destroyed half the meadow anyway, well-

"I was thinking maybe you could show me how you do it."

He raised an eyebrow thoughtfully.

"You mean resisting temptation?"

"Yes," I whispered.

His jagged smile seemed to fade slightly as he glanced away from me. My anxious heart thudded wildly in the seemingly endless seconds that dragged by.

When he looked up at me again, his smoldering golden eyes glowed with palpable exuberance.

"Well, I suppose a little practice never hurt anyone," he mused aloud.

I laughed, and he kissed me full heartedly as the whispering rain poured down on our tumbling, intertwined bodies and on the silent, glorious meadow.

**The End**

And so it ends.

Although I certainly had fun writing this fanfic, I'm glad it's finished now. I was debating whether or not to make it lemon-y, but I decided against the idea, because I knew Stephenie wouldn't have approved. So I decided to bow to the master and respect the cannon…for now.

Although it does tempt me to write where the honeymoon scene left off in Breaking Dawn…

Anyway, thank you all for reading. I hope you all enjoyed it, and please review. Thanks again.

-Lyra N.


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